Drive-in Wedding Pandemic doesn't stop happy-ever-after
The pandemic has stopped many things, but it's not stopped love. An April 4 wedding in Butler proved that.
It did cause some alterations to the event, of course.
To accommodate social gathering regulations, the guest list shrank from about 100 people to immediate family and two close friends.
The officiant wasn't in a suit. She was in a floral blouse and jeans.
And the bride didn't walk down the aisle. She drove down it in a 1956 Ford with her fiancé in the passenger's seat.
To Mary Jo Phillips and her new husband, John Sorbo, it was the stuff of fairy tales.
“What was the purpose? To get married. We did that,” Phillips, who kept her last name, said. “We had everything (we needed) to get married.”
The theme
The Phillips family has a tradition of quirky wedding themes. Her nephew was married in a castle. One of her nieces arrived at her ceremony in a horse-drawn carriage. Another left her wedding in an Amphicar.
When it came to Phillips' special day, she wanted something simple. She booked the Middlesex Fire Hall and organized a party.“'Sixty-two and saying I Do' was a good theme,” Phillips said.Phillips said she and Sorbo are the same age for a few days out of the year. April 4 is one of them.“We had planned to get married that day,” Phillips said. “And then this happened.”Maybe it was the themes of other family weddings that made her think outside the box. Or maybe it was because Phillips family is “an old-car family.”Whatever the reason, Phillips decided to forego the fire hall and invite people to a “drive-in” wedding. The details were hammered out April 2.“We donned our masks … and boxed up all the cookies,” Phillips said. “People got into it. It was fun.”The venueWhen it came to finding a new venue, it wasn't about which place held the most seats. It was about which place had the biggest driveway.Phillips' niece Monica Hartel's home won that distinction.
Phillips and Sorbo invited guests to drive up to their wedding in any car they pleased. Everyone stayed in their vehicles while Hartel — ordained via GetOrdained.org — conducted the ceremony.“She started with, 'If you can hear me, blow your horn,'” Phillips said. “She was funny.”Phillips' relatives have officiated at family weddings in the past. It's a gift Phillips is willing to share with her neighbors.“We all got the GetOrdained.org minister papers,” Phillips said. “If anyone wants me to marry them, I am ordained.”Though there wasn't a meal, a family member handed out party favors in the form of cookies in sanitized bags and bottles of Corona Extra.Phillips said the ceremony lasted about 10 minutes. When the bridegroom kissed the bride, guests honked their horns.“It was just fun,” Phillips said.After the partyPhillips knows that for some brides — especially young ones — the wedding ceremony and party mean a great deal. To set aside a year of planning can be heartbreaking.But when circumstances disrupt plans, Phillips said it's important to know what really matters. It's important to be flexible.“Be creative,” Phillips said. “Don't be afraid to let loose for a little bit.”
Things like reusing centerpieces as wedding flowers (Phillips recycled flowers from Hartel's wedding) or inviting people to wear their best face mask can make any wedding a unique celebration.“Have somebody hitch you,” Phillips said. “If you want to be married, you'll do it.”Phillips and Sorbo didn't have a party after their wedding. Like their guests, they simply drove home.The couple plans to have a big bash when the coronavirus pandemic is over.They want to celebrate with friends and family. They want to share how a Mars Area School District science teacher and a construction company worker met, fell in love and got married in the time of coronavirus.Then, they'll toast to happily-ever-afters.“There will be Corona,” Phillips said.
